The challenge of maintaining Atlantic forest biodiversity: A multi-taxa conservation assessment of specialist and generalist species in an agro-forestry mosaic in southern Bahia Renata Pardini a, * , Deborah Faria b,1 , Gustavo M. Accacio a , Rudi R. Laps b,2 , Eduardo Mariano-Neto c,3 , Mateus L.B. Paciencia d,4 , Marianna Dixo c , Julio Baumgarten b,1 a Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, Travessa 14, 101, CEP 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil b Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, CP 6109, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil c Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, Travessa 14, 101, CEP 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil d Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 277, CP 11461, CEP 05422-970 São Paulo, SP, Brazil article info Article history: Received 17 September 2008 Received in revised form 2 February 2009 Accepted 6 February 2009 Available online 20 March 2009 Keywords: Biodiversity management Edge effects Forest fragmentation Forest regeneration Landscape heterogeneity Matrix permeability abstract Recent developments have highlighted the importance of forest amount at large spatial scales and of matrix quality for ecological processes in remnants. These developments, in turn, suggest the potential for reducing biodiversity loss through the maintenance of a high percentage of forest combined with sen- sitive management of anthropogenic areas. We conducted a multi-taxa survey to evaluate the potential for biodiversity maintenance in an Atlantic forest landscape that presented a favorable context from a theoretical perspective (high proportion of mature forest partly surrounded by structurally complex matrices). We sampled ferns, butterflies, frogs, lizards, bats, small mammals and birds in interiors and edges of large and small mature forest remnants and two matrices (second-growth forests and shade cacao plantations), as well as trees in interiors of small and large remnants. By considering richness, abundance and composition of forest specialists and generalists, we investigated the biodiversity value of matrix habitats (comparing them with interiors of large remnants for all groups except tree), and eval- uated area (for all groups) and edge effects (for all groups except trees) in mature forest remnants. Our results suggest that in landscapes comprising high amounts of mature forest and low contrasting matri- ces: (1) shade cacao plantations and second-growth forests harbor an appreciable number of forest spe- cialists; (2) most forest specialist assemblages are not affected by area or edge effects, while most generalist assemblages proliferate at edges of small remnants. Nevertheless, differences in tree assem- blages, especially among smaller trees, suggest that observed patterns are unlikely to be stable over time. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Habitat loss and fragmentation are two closely linked anthropo- genic threats with a significant influence on extant patterns of spe- cies distribution and abundance (Pimm and Raven, 2000). Today a significant part of the terrestrial biodiversity is found in frag- mented landscapes, and since the landmark publication of island biogeography theory (MacArthur and Wilson, 1967), a growing body of research has allowed ecologists to start disentangling the main effects of habitat loss and fragmentation upon biological assemblages (Fahrig, 2003; Ewers and Didham, 2006; Fischer and Lindenmayer, 2007). Habitat loss and fragmentation adversely affect species persis- tence mainly through reduction in available native core habitat, in- crease in isolation among remnant patches and edge effects (Laurance et al., 2002; Fahrig, 2003; Kupfer et al., 2006). In general, habitat reduction increases the likelihood of stochastic extinction in fragments; an effect that is rarely offset by migrants due to in- creased patch isolation (Hanski, 1998). The influence of the modi- fied habitats that surround remnants, the so called edge effect, is known to affect forest microclimate (Didham and Lawton, 1999), 0006-3207/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.010 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 11 30917510; fax: +55 11 30917513. E-mail addresses: renatapardini@uol.com.br (R. Pardini), deborah@uesc.br (D. Faria), mechanitis@gmail.com (G.M. Accacio), rudilaps@furb.br (R.R. Laps), mar- ianon@gmail.com (E. Mariano-Neto), matinas@unip.br (M.L.B. Paciencia), maridix- o@ib.usp.br (M. Dixo), juliobaumgarten@uesc.br (J. Baumgarten). 1 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Ilhéus Itabuna, Km 16, CEP 45650-000 Ilhéus, BA, Brazil. 2 Departamento de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB), CP 1507, CEP 89010-971 Blumenau, SC, Brazil. 3 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Campus Jequié, Rua José Moreira Sobrinho, CEP 45206-190 Jequiezinho, Jequié, BA, Brazil. 4 Herbário UNIP, Universidade Paulista, Avenida Paulista, 900, Bela Vista, CEP 01310-100 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Biological Conservation 142 (2009) 1178–1190 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon